SIMPLIFIED MARKUP LANGUAGE DOCUMENTATION Prepared by: Y. Kirani Singh Co-Developer of SML Simplified Markup Language (SML) for HTML 4.0 Simplified Markup Language (SML) is a language that simplifies and shortens the tags of the HTML. It is basically a code language that represents the HTML codes in compact forms. We can now make web pages in a much easier way without having to type the html tags repeatedly. It also provides a means for making web pages in some of the major Indian languages such as Hindi, Bengali, Manipuri, Assamese etc in a much easier way. There is a translator program that translates the codes written in SML into the corresponding HTML codes. SML uses “[“ symbol to indicate start and “]” to indicate the end of a tag. Usually a “[“ followed by a character signifies a probable starting point of a tag. For example, [t Making Web Pages] in SML is equivalent to writing <title> Making Web Pages in SML </title> in HTML. That means, instead of typing <title> and </title> to indicate start and end of the title tag in HTML, we can simply type [t and ] in SML. Similar is the case for other tags. This way, we save lot of typing effort for making web pages. The downside is that we have to remember the codes of the tag markers and the order of the parameters used. As the number of tags used in HTML is not very large, it would not be very difficult to remember the tags and their parameters in SML. Moreover, we can use any html code in SML if the corresponding code in SML is out of mind. Installing SML translator The SML translator is a utility program, which can be run by simply double clicking it. Simply copy the SML translator in any folder or desktop and click it when you want to use it. There is no need of registering the program in the operating system. However, it is password locked. When you first run the program, you will be asked to enter password. If the password is wrong, a sequence of 10 numbers will be generated. Send the 10 numbers to the vendor by email or SMS in the email address or mobile number provided. SML Translator Interface: When correct password is provided, the SML translator interface as shown in Figure-1 will be displayed. It consists of five menus,(namely File, Edit, Convert, View and Help), two combo boxes of SML and HTML tags and an Editor Window. The functions of the components in the SML translator are briefly described. File Menu: The File menu consists of five menu items New, Open, Save, SaveAs and Exit. Their functions are briefly listed as follows. New (Shortcut Ctrl +N) allows us to create a new SML document. Open (Shortcut Ctrl +O) allows us to open an existing SML document to open in the editor window for further editing or modification. Save (Shortcut Ctrl + S) allows us to save the editing document by the same file. Save As (Shortcut Ctrl + Shift + S) allow us to save the editing document in a different file. Exit allows us to exit the application (SML translator). Edit Menu: The Edit menu consists of five menu items Cut, Copy, Paste, Select All, Clear to facilitate editing. Each of these menu items are described below. Cut (Shortcut Ctrl + X) to cut selected text in the editor window. Copy (Shortcut Ctrl + C) to copy selected text in the editor window. Paste (Shortcut Ctrl + V) to paste the cut or copied selected text in a desired location in the editor window or in a different text editor. Select All (Shortcut Ctrl + A) allows us to select the whole content in the editor window. Clear (Shortcut Alt + C) to delete the whole content in the editor window. Figure-1: SML Translator Interface. Convert Menu: The Convert menu consists of two menu items HTML Code and SML Code. The SML Code menu item is in disabled state initially. It becomes enabled when the HTML Code menu item is executed. The HTML Code menu item enables us to convert the SML tags written in the editor window into corresponding HTML tags. The functions of the two menu items under Convert menu are listed below. HTML Code (Shortcut Ctrl + H) to convert the SML code written in the editor window to HTML code. SML Code (Shortcut Ctrl + E) to go back to the SML code in the editor window for further editing. View Menu: The View menu consists of two menu items, Web Page and HTML File. It uses an HTML viewer application to display web contents. The Web Page allows us to see the current web page of the corresponding SML code written in the editor window. The HTML File menu item allows us to see any external HTML file in the HTML viewer of the SML Translator. So, the functions of the menu items in the View menu are listed below. Web Page (Shortcut Ctrl +W) allows us to see the web page corresponding to the SML code written in the editor window. HTML File (Shortcut Ctrl + Shift +W) allows us to see the content of any external HTML file. When HTML File item under View menu is selected, a file browser is displayed to enable us select the desired HTML file. Help Menu: The Help menu consists of two menu items, About Key Mapping and About SML. The About Key Mapping menu item provides key mapping information for typing Manipuri, (Bengali, Assamese as well), Devanagari and Mathematical Symbols using the key board keys. The key mapping of Bengali Unicode and Devanagari Unicode is made to type unicode characters of these two scripts in an easier way when creating web pages in these languages. Also, key mapping of Mathematical symbols allows us to write symbols whenever required for making a web page. When the About Key Mapping menu item under Help menu is clicked, a window form as shown in Figure-2 will be appeared. This form contains three radio buttons labeled Bengali , Devanagari, Mathemathical and a button labeled Display. Select the appropriate radio button for which key mapping help is sought and click the Display button. The corresponding Key Mapping will be displayed in the same window. By default the Bengali key mapping is selected, which will be displayed when About Key Mapping is clicked. Figure-2 shows the Bengali character key mathematical Symbols incorporated in the SML. Figure -3 shows the Devanagari key mapping and Figure-4 shows the key mapping for mathematical symbols that can be used in SML. The About SML menu item shows the version information of SML. Figure-2: Bengali Key Mapping. Figure-3: Devanagari key mapping Figure-4: Mathematical Symbols’ key mapping Combo boxes of SML and HTML tags: The combo boxes of SML and HTML tags contain tags that can be used for making web pages in SML and HTML. The combo box of SML tags contains all SML tags. HTML tags combo box contains the HTML tags corresponding to the SML tags in the SML tag combo box. When a particular SML tag or its format is forgotten, SML tag combo box help in finding the tag information. When a particular SML is selected in the SML tag combo box, the corresponding HTML tag is also selected in the HTML tag combo box. Also, the selected SML or HTML tag will be displayed in the text box provided below the combo boxes. The displayed tag can then be copied, modified and used in SML editing. Figure-5 shows the selection of irs tag in the SML tag combo box. When this tag is selected from the combo box, the corresponding HTML code is displayed in HTML tag combo box and the same SML code is displayed in the display box. Figure-5: SML code of irs tag of SML displayed in display box. When a particular HTML code is desired to be shown in the display box, select that code from HTML tag combo box. Figure-6 shows the HTML code in display box corresponding to the SML code of using irs tag shown in Figure-5. Figure-6: HTML code (of the SML code in figure-5 ) displayed in the display box. Copying content in code display box The SML or HTML code displayed in the code display box can be copied and pasted it in the editor window to save typing or easy modification of attributes of a tag. To copy the content in the display box, first select the content and right click. A popup menu will appear as shown in figure-7. Select the Copy option from the popup menu. The selected text can be pasted in the editor window of SML translator or in any text editor. Figure-7: Copying the content of the code display box. Making a Webpage in SML Making a webpage in SML is much simpler and easier than making a webpage using HTML because we do not have to write longer and repeated tags in SML. SML code can be written in a text editor or SML editor of SML translator application. Open a text editor and write the SML code and save it with extension .sml. To see the corresponding webpage, open the file in SML translator and then press view Web Page button. Alternatively, we can directly write the SML code in the editor window of the translator window. Click the view webpage button to see the corresponding webpage. Write the following code in Editor Window. [h [t Web Page in SML ] ] [bd:] Creating web page in SML is much simpler than creating in HTML.